Cyberbullying: Positive Prevention

Using Positive Peer Pressure and Social Media to Prevent Cyberbullying

Below are some resources I used with my students as well as for a teacher workshop at the Learning 2.013 conference.

This is the order I went in, but feel free to pick and chose anything you think might be relevant to your class.

Start Digital Citizenship: Day 1

1. Meditation (5 minutes quiet time)

2. Journal: Have you seen behavior online recently that upset you or made you uncomfortable? Did you report it? Why or why not?

3. Los Angeles Times article: Glendale district says social media monitoring is for student safety

Accompanying video clip:

4. Have students go to either side of the room based on whether they agree or disagree

-Ask individual students to defend their position

-Discussion

5. Table Groups: Have students who have played League of Legends all go to separate tables and then the rest of the students fill in the remaining seats.

6. Read Wired article on the LOL Tribunal

– Wired LOL article edited for use in MS classroom

Additional resources:

Wired UK Article: Sept. 2013 (includes recent video produced by The Player Behavior Team at Riot)

Ars Technica Article on Riot’s Player Behavior Team (this one takes a much more scientific, in-depth look)

7. Have LOL players talk to other students about the things you can report other players for (both positive and negative behaviors)

If you don’t have any players in the classroom, use the article(s) as a guide.

8. Report out and compile list on the board (or, if you’re 1-to-1, use Today’s Meet or some other platform)

9. Discuss LOL Tribunal and how it works

10. Parting Question: So what is the answer then? How do we encourage positive behavior?

Cyberbullying: Day 2

1. Meditation

2. Journal: Who should be responsible for monitoring cyberbullying? Explain your answer…

3. Possible supporting resources:

– MIT Games Lab Lecture: Play Nice: the Science and Behavior of Online Games

(Cut out/edit from 2:49-3:21 if in a MS class, other than that… use your best judgement. Think this would be awesome in a High School Psych class.)

3. Cyber search: stopbullying.gov/laws

Student Activity Sheet: Cyberbullying Laws and Policy Search

-NPR article: Florida’s newest updates to cyberlaws

Cyberbullying: Day 3

1. Meditation

2. Journal: Reflect on your research. Who do you think should be held responsible for cyberbullying? What do you think the consequences should be?

3. Possible conversation starters:

– Mashable Article: Texas teenager in jail for facebook comments (content may be too graphic for MS students)

– Huff Post Article: Parents of bullies in Wisconsin town to be fined for their kids’ bad behavior

Or should nobody be responsible?

California Senate Bill 568

Check your own digital footprint. Would you take the erase option? Why or why not.

A Platform for Good: Clean up your digital footprint

**These items all led to some pretty big discussions in my classes, but could easily be combined with the next lesson if you’ve got a less talkative bunch.

Cyberbullying: Day 4

1. Meditation: 5 min

2. Journal: What are some examples of the positive ways in which people are trying to combat bullying? Give specific examples…

West High Bros– A Sincere Compliment